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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Generally on Friday after work I go to my local place, the Beverage Superstore which offers free tastings from 4:30-7:00. But Paul took this weekend off due to the holiday...so I set out to find a place to fill my growler.

I realize I said I'm not a fan of wheat beers...and this is the second of two posts on wheat beers. But this is also good. And I got it yesterday on tap at Ale Yeah! in Decatur. As luck would have it, this is the week Ale Yeah! opened their growler service.

First of all, what's a growler? Just a great, cheaper way to get really fresh craft beer. More specifically it's a glass jug (usually about a half gallon) that you can purchase for about $5. Then you fill it with brew, drink it in no more than a week and get it filled again. Most breweries and many pubs offer growler service these days. And stores are now following suit. It's cheaper because you're not paying for the fancy bottling and packaging.

Ale Yeah! offers a variety of choices. It would be hard to not find something you don't like. I had heard and read good things about this witbier. So for $9 I got the Allagash White and a mix and match sixer.

The White is a traditional Belgian wheat with a crisp beginning and a sharp flavorful finish. To me the spices overpower the orange taste, but you can definitely taste everything they put in it. One thing I don't like about this style of beer is that they aren't always balanced, one sip may not be consistent with the next much less from bottle to bottle. And you can't say that about the Allagash White.

Very good, especially in the Summer. Definitely looking forward to this growler full.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Even when he's innocent he's at least knee deep in a pile of crap. You've surely already heard USC (the real one) lost their appeal for leniency. However, there's evidently no truth to the rumors that the Kiffin family spent yesterday burning mattresses in protest.

A week ago I went out on a pretty firm limb and said that the WLOCP is, has and always will be the game eternally circled on the schedule. We're about to find out if the UGA Athletic Board agrees.

The University of Georgia Athletic Association’s Board of Directors will vote this morning on ticket price increases during the next six years for the Georgia-Florida football game. Regular tickets for the game in Jacksonville would rise from $40 to $60 in 2012 and rise to $70 in 2014 and $75 in 2017. Club seating would increase from $70 to $100 in 2012, $110 in 2014 and $120 in 2017. The 2012 price increase would generate an additional $1.779 million in revenue. Georgia’s total revenue for the game would increase from $3.7 million in 2011 to $6.8 million in 2017.

We've known the price hikes were likely coming. That being said, whether the value of the game matches the future prices will depend on if we can stop soiling our pants once the buses cross the border.

Diamond Dawgs got blanked last night by Vanderbilt, 10-0. The Commodores are one of the nation's best teams and they have a staff full of aces, but it's still embarrassing. Today we face Auburn in the loser's bracket still needing three wins to become eligible for the NCAAs. Alex Wood will go against the Tiger's Varnadore who tossed a complete game shutout against the Dawgs a couple weeks ago.

In better news though, Jonathan Taylor has been released from the Shepherd's full time care center and is determined to walk again.

"I’ve got to re-learn my body," said Taylor, who was paralyzed in a March 6 outfield collision with teammate Zach Cone during a game against Florida State. "I’ve got to get those body parts moving again. It feels like you’re a baby again, sort of. You have to re-learn your body parts and how to get them to move again. You’ve got these therapists teaching you techniques of how to get through situations."

Taylor’s recovery process has been slow, but he has made progress. The next phase of his life began on Tuesday when he graduated from a full-time Shepherd Center patient to an adjacent apartment so he can participate in the hospital’s day program.

"You don’t want to be dependent everybody else to help you out," Taylor said. "You don’t want to become a lazy person, having to always ask for help. My plan is not to do that. I want to be as independent as I can."

Taylor’s move to the Shepherd Center’s day program is a red-letter date in his recovery.

His apartment is in the Shepherd Center’s complex, so he has easy access to the facilities to continue his physical therapy. It’s also closer to a return to familiar surroundings. The Shepherd Center is one of the best facilities in the country. But it’s still a hospital.

"For me, it was one step closer to going home," said Taylor’s teammate Chance Veazey, who was paralyzed in a motor scooter crash about a year and a half before Taylor’s accident, and also went through the Shepherd Center’s program. "It’s good feeling to know he’s going to be able to get away from the hospital bed and the room and be able to eventually go live with his mom. It’s a lot easier on yourself mentally.

"You’re just there with your family and you don’t have to deal with all the medical stuff 24-7," Veazey continued. "It’s really the first step of starting to live on your own. There’s an independence factor. Nobody’s going to come into your room all hours of the night. It’s much, much easier on you."

It's been a difficult season. And although Taylor certainly isn't the lone bright spot, he's sure a shining example of hard work and dedication.

Also, here's a link to some pictures from Taylor's graduation ceremony at Shepherd yesterday.

With all due respect to Dean, Chad and Fletcher, the DawgPost just got more friendly on the eyes. As for Crowell, without the puppy in his hands he still is pretty media savvy. It's going to be a really fun August.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I'm on record as not being wrong often. But I was warned of a certain error a couple weeks ago by Cojones. I had posted on the depth at running back amid the Ealey departure...and then the Caleb King rumors. But I had missed someone in my analysis. And now that Brandon Harton has made the post-Spring depth chart I'm officially past due in making amends.

Others are skeptical, or just curious as to why Malcome is listed behind Harton. But reading over the Spring reports, you might remember it was the burner walk-on from Tatnall County that was mentioned most by coaches...at least for actual on field performances. He might only be 5'6", but at the very least he entered Spring with the aim of pushing the bar higher.

So Malcome sitting fourth doesn't concern me much. At least not as much as Harton sitting behind Thomas.

About the only other thing that caught my eye was Marlon Brown starting at split end. That speaks to our lack of depth. Brown has a scant few months to hold his place in the receiving corps hierarchy. I would expect Bennett, Wooten, Conley or newcomer Malcolm Mitchell to take plenty of snaps opposite opposite Tavarres King. Hmmm...this smells like a future post.

I certainly don't intend to imply that any college football fan in the south could allow himself to go to the great lengths that Harvey Updyke did to "defend" his team. But in reading this very, very sad account of Updyke's life, I hope a lot of fans take stock of their own fandom.

ESPNs Wright Thompson portrays his interviewee as a split personality, not in the DSM-IVR sense but in the average guy who also becomes a different person on the subject of Alabama football.

I just stare across the table at this polite 62-year-old man, his hair neatly combed, his face covered by a beard he hopes will allow him a measure of anonymity. Well, I stare at two different people, both of whom have made an appearance in the first two minutes.

There is Harvey Updyke, a remorseful grandfather who claims he didn't poison those trees and wishes he'd never called a radio show to take credit for it.

As the tale of Updyke and the interview itself unfold, I'm easily reminded of how people become different versions of themselves on Saturdays in the Fall. And while I would never resort to defending my team's honor by castrating an alligator (can gators even be castrated...??), I'm also certain that there are people in my day to day life that would not recognize me as readily on gamedays.

Following our teams as passionately as we do here in the South allows us to experience a broad range of emotions just like Updyke:

The football gods, it seemed, were rewarding him for seasons of loyal fanaticism. The Crimson Tide were going to the national championship game. When he heard a small block of tickets were being sold to Pasadena, he had everyone he knew call to try to get a pair. That didn't work, but, from an old high school friend with corporate connections, a miracle. Updyke was going to see Alabama play for the national title at the Rose Bowl. He found his seats and took in the crisp California air, the football team on the field, the tense countdown until kickoff.

Harvey started crying.

When he got home, he framed his ticket stub and looked forward to 2010. Season 2 brought hopes of a repeat. Imagine, to be a fan from afar for your entire life and then walk into this. Last year, he went to more Alabama games -- eight -- than he'd ever made it to before in a single season. He was at the Iron Bowl, when Alabama ran out to a 24-0 lead, and he was there when Auburn scored 28 points to win. That night, he and a friend had a hotel reservation in Tuscaloosa. They didn't bother, pointing the car south, toward home.

"We just drove straight back to Dadeville," he says, "seriously, I bet we didn't say 10 words."

Al from Dadeville seems like he expected to be greeted as a conquering hero. Maybe it was as simple as confusing the angry mob on Finebaum with the fan base as a whole, or maybe it was something deeper, but he figured his side would have his back. After all, he'd struck a blow against the enemy. He was surprised to find the opposite was true, with Tide for Toomer's raising money on Facebook, with former Alabama players calling him horrible names, with Saban writing a check to help try to save the trees.

Monday, May 23, 2011

The dog days of Summer are quickly approaching. This weekend was hotter than a watch from the sidewalks of NYC. Just when you get accustomed to leaving the screen open and breathing in the fresh air, Summer is barreling through your threshold faster than you can re-program your thermostat.

Harvey 3 months later

Another thing that sucks about these days we're in is that the information on college football is at it's slowest drip. From August through early January we're drinking from an overflowing fountain that continually satiates our thirst and never seems close to running out. Then it trickles through Signing Day before becoming a steady drip during Spring drills.But here in May...nothing. Even if we listen closely, you can't hear Mark May being a dumbass. I bet even Nick Saban took a nap or something this weekend. We go from a college football hedonistic lifestyle to a dead period of forced moderation. It ain't easy. And it ain't fun either.But just when you think there's no end in sight, the entire college football world (aka the SEC and its media conglomeration) descends on Hoover, AL. And then we start drinking from the fountain again.

Today's Ingredients

SEC Meetings in Destin will also give us a nice break in the monotony next week. One of the many things expected to be discussed is doing away with the East/West divisions in men's basketball. In other words, toning up the teams from the West by diluting the East.

After spending two weeks upstairs swigging narcotics and making the mother of all honey-do-it!! lists, this weekend Mrs. Bernie dragged me outside into the sweltering heat and commenced to cracking the whip. What's worse is I'm pretty sure I heard my dog laughing at me on a few occasions while he played the "I don't have opposable thumbs" card.

The only thing worse than facing a long list of chores is knowing that it'll be a few weeks before you see the bottom of it. And forced moderation when it comes to yard work is a much different misery than college football's off season. Instead of monotony and boredom I have sore muscles and sunburn. Put it all together and it's enough to make you watch lacrosse while you ice down...everything.

Were things this dull and bothersome way back when KiffyBaby was around? Oh well, 102 days til we storm the Dome. But for now, here's your fork Reader. Go have yourself a Monday.

Bernie's Dawg Blawg is not affiliated with the University of Georgia or any other institution or organization. It's use is meant solely for your utter boredom as well as a complement to your working knowledge of all things DAWG.